Community Invited to Join UMES for Founders' Week Activities

PRINCESS ANNE, MD-The University of Maryland Eastern Shore celebrates its 122nd birthday on September 13 with a week-long celebration in honor of the school's founding. Originating as Princess Anne Academy with one faculty member and nine students, the university now boasts more than 200 full-time faculty and enrolls over 4,000 students.

The school was founded in 1886 as part of the nations network of historically black land-grant institutions to provide higher education for African-Americans on the Lower Eastern Shore. The state of Maryland took the school under its auspices in 1919, renaming it the Eastern Shore Branch of Maryland Agricultural College. It spent time as Princess Anne College and Maryland State College before becoming University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1970.

Today, UMES offers six doctoral, 11 master s and 33 undergraduate degrees. It is the research and doctoral degree granting institution on the Shore and has recently been approved for an accelerated three-year Doctor of Pharmacy program commencing in 2010-one of only 6 in the nation to offer such a program. This year the university also has pride in welcoming the first class of the Professional Golf Management Program. Students come to the university from over 30 states and 40 countries.

Founders' Week kicks off with a joint celebratory worship service on Sunday, September 14, at 11 a.m. at Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Princess Anne. The two institutions, founded just six days apart in 1886, have supported each other through the years. The UMES gospel choir under the direction of Dr. Della Dameron-Johnson will perform.

The Founders' Week convocation and summer commencement takes place on Tuesday, September 16, at 10 a.m. in the Ella Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center. The speaker for the event is K. Renee Horton, who is within one year from being the first African-American to receive a doctorate in physics from the University of Alabama and one of only 55 female African-Americans who hold the degree in the U.S. She is also one of the team leaders for the U.S. delegation attending the Third International Union of Pure and Applied Physics International Conference on Women in Physics 2008 being held in Korea in early October. Performances by the UMES Concert Choir and UMES Wind Ensemble, directed by Drs. Sheila McDonald Harleston and John R. Lamkin, respectively, round out the day s festivities.

An outdoor concert featuring the UMES Concert and Gospel choirs along with the UMES Jazz Band are in store for Tuesday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m. on the lawn by the Ella Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center. Fireworks follow at 8:30 p.m. and can best be seen from the concert site. In the event of inclement weather, the concert will move inside the Ella Fitzgerald Center for the Performing Arts and the fireworks will be rescheduled.

Area golfers can join the legendary Art Shell and other football greats for 18 holes of play and an awards dinner at the annual Celebrity Golf Classic on Wednesday, September 17, at 8:30 a.m. at GlenRiddle Golf Club in Berlin. A meet the celebrities party at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, September 16, is free to golfers and $10 for the general public. To register for the tournament, call 410-651-7773. The registration fee is $200 per individual or $750 per foursome.

Artwork newly created by the faculty of the Department of Fine Arts will be on display at the Mosely Gallery September 10 through October 10, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Meet the artists at the opening reception on Thursday, September 18, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Mosely Gallery in the Arts and Technology building.